Halifax Down! by Tom Wingham

Author:Tom Wingham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS027100, World War 2 / Aviation
ISBN: 9781909166974
Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
Published: 2009-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter VIII

Behind Bars

Coming to, at the edge of the woods, Sid Stephen could see by the light of the flames from the burning aircraft on the other side of the wood that he had a great gash on the back of his leg and could feel that his forehead had also been cut with blood streaming down his face. For a while he was unable to move but, when he eventually tried, he found himself in agony and thought he had broken a leg. On further examination he concluded that he had only sustained a badly sprained ankle so gathered up his parachute and started to wander around looking for somewhere to hide the bundle when he bumped into a young Dutch farmer who had come out to view the crash. Sid did not know who was the most surprised, he or the farmer, who seeing that Sid was badly hurt helped him to shelter in the Lockerplei farm.

As he entered Sid must have been a pretty gruesome sight with big open wounds on his forehead, blood-matted hair, a big open gash in his left buttock, blood encrusted ripped trousers and, to crown it all, two lovely black eyes. There was some argument between the farmer and his wife about calling a doctor, but in due course they came to agreement and Heer Boers, the farmer, left and in time returned with a doctor. In the meantime his wife tried to clean up Sid’s face and offered a cup of ersatz coffee, no milk or sugar, which tasted vile. A number of neighbours had in the meantime called at the house and when the doctor arrived he spoke to Sid in English and told him that had he got to him earlier he could have attended to his wounds without informing the Germans but now too many people knew of his arrival. He then departed to telephone the Dutch police.

It is difficult for Britons who have never had to live under an alien occupying force to understand the fears, suspicions and hates engendered by such conditions. Sadly this atmosphere often led to results which nobody wanted. The farmer tried to explain to Sid that if he had not been wounded he would have passed him to the escape line. In turn the policeman said the same thing and indeed the doctor is believed to have patched up several aircrew before helping them on their way. But in the end Sid was collected and taken by a young Dutch police officer to the police station at Gulpen which, being a rural district, was also his home. Here his wife, who spoke some English, cooked a couple of eggs supplied by the farmer but Sid had no appetite and, with great difficulty, persuaded the couple to eat them, but only after promising that he would not tell the Germans. They then made up a bed in one of the cells, but left the door unlocked, a pretty safe bet since he was in no condition to make off.

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